QUARTERLY OF THE INDUSTRIAL DESIGNERS SOCIETY OF AMERICA spring 2012

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Eva Zeisel n showcase n who we are The FutureIs... BOSTON8.15.12 Get ready foraconferencethatignites: Get ready FUTU IDSA 2012INTERNA THE The FutureIs... aboutUS. IMAGINATION. Find outmore andregister: http://www.idsa.org/idsa-2012-international-conference CREATIVITY. INTELLECT. EMOTION. PASSION. SENSES. TIONAL CONFERENCE . BOSTON 8.15.12 PEOPLE . RE – Austen Angell,2012Conference Chair TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS IS... QUARTERLY OF THE INDUSTRIAL DESIGNERS SOCIETY OF AMERICA spring 2012

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Publisher Executive Editor Managing Editor Advertising Annual Subscriptions Roxann Henze Mark Dziersk, FIDSA & Designer Katie Fleger Within the US $60 IDSA Managing Director Karen Berube IDSA Canada & Mexico $75 555 Grove Street, Suite 200 Lunar | Chicago K.Designs 555 Grove Street, Suite 200 International $110 Herndon, VA 20170 [email protected] 3511 Broadrun Dr. Herndon, VA 20170 P: 703.707.6000 x102 Fairfax, VA 22033 P: 703.707.6000 x104 Single Copies F: 703.787.8501 Advisory Council P: 703.860.4411 F: 703.787.8501 Fall/Yearbook $35+ S&H [email protected] Gregg Davis, IDSA [email protected] [email protected] All others $17+ S&H www.innovationjournal.org Alistair Hamilton, IDSA [email protected] Contributing Editor Jennifer Evans Yankopolus ®

The quarterly publication of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), Innovation provides in-depth coverage of design issues and long-term trends while communicating the value of design to business and society at large. form Patrons of Industrial Design Excellence 16 Form Is Function 43 The Formlessness of Form by Tucker Viemeister, FIDSA and Contemplative Biology investor Guest Editor by Steven Skov Holt, IDSA IDEO, Palo Alto, CA; Shanghai, China; 18 Design to Touch, Use 48 Communicating Design Cambridge, MA; London, UK; San Francisco; & Inhabit Intent with Form: Visual Munich, Germany; Chicago; New York by Bill Moggridge, FIDSA Intelligence Jerome Caruso Design Inc., Lake Forest, IL by Jeffrey Kapec, IDSA Masco, Taylor, MI 20 Bringing Form to Light: Designing with a New 52 Eva Zeisel Tribute Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati, OH Lighting Technology Webb deVlam Chicago, Chicago, IL Additional Contributors: Ayse Birsel, by Michael McCoy, IDSA Scott Wilson, IDSA, Ross Lovegrove Cultivator 22 FORM Altitude, Somerville, MA by Karim Rashid features Cesaroni Design Associates Inc., Glenview, IL 25 A Form Speaks a 14 The Designer’s Dilemma, Continuum, Boston; Los Angeles; Milan, Italy; 3 Thousand Words Portfolio and Matrix: Seoul, South Korea; Shanghai, China Feeding the Development by Gregg Davis, IDSA Crown Equipment, New Bremen, OH Pipeline by Jim Kendall, IDSA 28 This Is Rhythms Dell, Round Rock, TX by Karen Gaylord In every issue Design Concepts, Madison, WI Eastman Chemical Co., Kingsport, TN 32 Industrial Design and Its 4 From the Executive Editor Education: Defining Its Hewlett-Packard, Palo Alto, CA by Mark Dziersk, FIDSA Visual Responsibility IDI/Innovation & Development Inc.,

by Kathryn Filla and Martin Skalski 7 Design Defined Edgewater, NJ by Allen Samuels, IDSA Lunar Design Inc., Palo Alto, CA 38 Hands & Minds 8 Letters to the Editor Metaphase Design Group, St. Louis, MO by Hartmut Esslinger 10 Book Review Nokia Design, Calabasas, CA 40 The Transformative Power by Scott Stropkay, IDSA Smart Design, New York; San Francisco; of the Design Studio: The 11 A Look Back Barcelona, Spain Path to a Black Belt in by Carroll Gantz, FIDSA Stanley Black & Decker, New Britain, CT Design by Peter Chamberlain, IDSA 54 Showcase Teague, Seattle, WA and Craig M. Vogel, FIDSA 64 Signposts Tupperware, Worldwide by Alistair Hamilton, IDSA Charter Patrons indicated by color. Statement of Ownership Ave. Year Single Publication: Innovation Total Number of Copies: 4,531 4,725 Publication Number: Vol. 31, No. 1 Paid/Requested outside county: 3,913 5,962 For more information about becoming a Filing Date: 9/21/11 Paid in county: 0 0 Issue Frequency: Quarterly Sales through dealers/carriers: 0 0 Patron and supporting IDSA’s communication No. of Issues Published Annually: 4 Other classes mailed through USPS: 298 313 and education outreach, please contact Annual Subscription Rate: Total paid: 4,092 6,275 $60 Domestically, $110 Internationally Free distribution outside county: 0 0 Dawn Hatzer at 703.707.6000 x119. Mailing Address: 555 Grove Street, Suite 200 Free distribution inside county: 0 0 Herndon, VA 20170 Free distribution mailed through USPS: 0 0 Mailing Address for Headquarters: Same as above Free distribution: 94 0 Owner & Publisher: Industrial Designers Society of America, Total distribution: 4,186 6,275 555 Grove Street, Suite 200, Herndon, VA 20170 Copies not distributed: 775 647 Managing Editor: Karen Berube Total: 4,961 6,922 Issue Date for Circulation Data: 6/21/2011

QUARTERLY OF THE INDUSTRIAL DESIGNERS SOCIETY OF AMERICA spring 2012 Cover photo: Shadow of an Eva Zeisel pitcher. Tucker Viemeister, FIDSA Advertisers’ Index inn OVAT i O n Innovation is the quarterly journal of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), the c2 2012 IDSA Conference f

O professional organization serving the needs of US industrial designers. Reproduction in whole rm spring 2012 fOrm 1 LaFrance Corp. EvA ZEISEL n SHOwCASE n wHO wE ARE or in part—in any form—without the written permission of the publisher is prohibited. The opinions expressed in the bylined articles are those of the writers and not neces- c4 Lunar sarily those of IDSA. IDSA reserves the right to decline any advertisement that is contrary c3 PTI to the mission, goals and guiding principles of the Society. The appearance of an ad does 9 Stratyasys not constitute an endorsement by IDSA. All design and photo credits are listed as provided by the submitter. Innovation is printed on recycled paper with soy-based inks. The use of IDSA and FIDSA after a name is a registered collective membership mark. Innovation (ISSN No. 0731-2334 and USPS No. 0016-067) is published quarterly by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA)/Innovation, 555 Grove Street, Suite 200, Far Left: Jessica Rosenkrantz and Jesse Louis- Herndon, VA 20170. Periodical postage at Sterling, VA 20164 and at additional mailing Rosenberg for Nervous System offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to IDSA/Innovation, 555 Grove Street, Suite 200, Herndon, VA 20170, USA. ©2012 Industrial Designers Society of America. Vol. 31, No. 1, 2012; Library of Congress Catalog No. 82-640971; ISSN No. 0731-2334; USPS 0016-067. By Hartmut Esslinger [email protected] n www.creativeDNAaustria.com

Hartmut Esslinger is the founder of frog, an entrepreneur and a teacher.

hands & minds

ince I can remember, I always wanted to create and make something. I could recognize any car,

motorcycle or truck. (Yes, there weren’t that many models on German roads in 1948.) I drew S them well, and I also tried to make models from bark and wood. After I spent vacations with my relatives at the Rhine River and the North Sea, I added boats and ships.

My great luck was to grow up in a tiny village where my ed my own shop under our roof. However, life became more parents had rented an apartment in a farmhouse. Georg complex: My teachers didn’t care for creativity, and even Gauss, the farmer, was also the village carpenter, which though I was still an honor roll student, they scolded me for meant that there was a building to the farmhouse with all the “senseless stuff” I did, such as filling notebooks with a wonderful workshop. It was my paradise, sketches of cars, bikes, ships and airplanes, and I became Mr. Gauss’ nightmare, until for which I was frequently ejected from the he gave up and assigned me a small table “Ideas are the notes, classroom. When I then started to build with some tools. but model making is model airplanes—around the corner there On the other side of the house was was a true fanatic who also gave credit—and the school: one class for all eight grades. I the orchestra.” began to play American music, my parents went to the class at the age four because it —frog mantra became concerned. For them, I was clearly was the coolest place. Mr. Hahn—a highly on the path down into the gutter. It didn’t qualified teacher, who had escaped the Nazis into our pietis- help that as part of their business my parents met fashion tic enclave—in hindsight, was way overqualified; he later designers, most of whom actually affirmed my parents’ fears became the principal of a high school in Stuttgart. But then as they tried to make me into an “orderly German.” again, he was our lucky break: Of the students entering his My mom began to burn my sketchbooks; my dad at class during my four “official” years, six of the nine students least funneled my energy toward toy trains. I had a large table qualified for high school and two went on to college: Klaus in my room, and aside from the trains and rails I built an entire Henning, a great painter and sculptor, and myself. Now, landscape with a village using paper, plaster, matches and why did Klaus and I make it as creative children when all small things that I found in the junk buckets at a hardware German educational models were—and still are—rational store nearby. At 14 when I decided to start a rock ’n’ roll and rewarded logical traits rather than visceral ones? Well, band, I got an electric guitar, which my parents regretted Mr. Hahn offered a deal: When your grades were great, you greatly—due to lack of money I also had to build some instru- had the freedom to do what you liked. So we learned like ments, like drums and a skiffle guitar, from wooden barrels mad—and we got the rewards. Mine was to build a scaled- and cigar boxes. This led me to another culture clash, both down fire truck and to decorate the classroom for Easter, with my parents and my teachers. It also didn’t help that I Thanksgiving and Christmas. Klaus sculpted animals—and built the power amps from Fender kits I found in second- for Christmas, the Holy Family. All we had was wood, bark, hand shops. But despite all the suppressive circumstances, paper, clay and colors. And thanks to Mr. Gauss’ shop next including in the arts, I was happy outside of school. door, we were progressing well. And because my parents In music, of all things, I had one great teacher: Arthur had started a fashion business, I believed that my world was Kusterer. He was a retired composer and had been a great perfect—but life had some surprises for me. pianist, including playing concerts at the Berlin Philharmonic When I was 10 years old, my parents bought a live-in with Herbert von Karajan. He could explain—in musical business house in the next little town called Altensteig. I also terms—that creativity is rooted in believing and doing, with- passed the entry test for high school, which again was just out leaving another choice. He let me play the blues, but across the street from our house. I also found two carpenter also requested that I learn at least the basics of Mozart and shops nearby. But they resented me being there, so I start- Beethoven. He didn’t respect fixed times for periods and

38 www.INNOVATIONjournal.org always insisted that our weekly transitions. From the first idea class would make us “Mensch,” to IFA was eight months—and better students and better peo- the success changed everything: ple (although there is no direct Wega grew by 500 percent until translation from German). He also its acquisition by in 1974, instilled self-confidence in us—the and I had established myself by class was voluntary—by saying “form follows emotion.” that if we do what we love and Then I hired Andreas Haug feel right about it, we will do and Georg Spreng as my design- well. Years later, after detours er peers—they would become serving in the army and study- partners from 1977 to 1982—and ing engineering, I told him that I Walter Funk as one of the best finally had found my ideal profes- master model makers I ever had sion. He didn’t know what design the privilege to work with. That meant but liked what he saw in was a good ratio: We design- my eyes and said, “You know, I ers designed and made quick live in sounds, and now you live models, and Walter created the in shapes—be a hero ‘Siegfried,’ magical touch. Together we but be aware of the Hagens,” all designed by shaping in the referring to the Nibelungen Saga shop for Wega, Vuitton, Sony where the hero gets murdered and Apple, just to name a few. by being stabbed from behind. And because I always believed He saw creative life as a heroic in great tools, in 1984 I pushed journey—and when he died in 1967, the fulfillment of his life frog into CAD and paid $1.4 million for four stations (VAX was greater than the sadness. and Intergraph). But I saw CAD as a creative tool, not as a Now, as a design student, all that had been wrong seducer. In the meantime—with prices coming down and in my life was right. It was a bit like being in the political processing power going up—young designers have turned opposition for 23 years and suddenly being asked to take into digital software junkies and really believe what they see the responsibility to govern. I realized that 90 percent of on their screens. But it’s only the notes and not the music! my education at school had been a waste—yes, I loved How did this happen? My conclusion is that it wasn’t history—and that the good things were the relationships a change in people or clients, but in process! The problem and the ability to learn. And it helped a little bit that I had started when we designers were allowed to claim budgets learned to interact with noncreative people, which is one and then hand down only small amounts to model making. of the major challenges most designers don’t pass (e.g., This resulted in seeing model making as an up cost that my client doesn’t understand). When I came to the Design should be avoided. And the same goes to digital, where College in Schwaebisch Gmuend, my first trip was to the there isn’t enough playing and testing. I just want to mention model shop; it became my living room. It also helped that frog’s Colin Cole, who established his great digital models Professor Karl Dittert loved models. “Renderings are nice, for our first SAP project. For this reason, I re-established but models are magical,” he’d say. And I also learned that a small model shop during my six years teaching at the I had a lot to learn. Design is not like model airplanes; University of Applied Art, , and for the same reason, conceptual thinking and practical shaping really go tool-in- my new studio in Shanghai will have a perfectly equipped hand. Like Kusterer had said, “Notes written on paper only model shop—and I am extremely satisfied that my Chinese become music by an orchestra playing them.” partners understand the true value of balanced convergence This became the mantra of frog: Ideas are the notes, between digital and analog tools and processes. but model making is the orchestra. So my first investment After relative early successes, the curse of digital tools in my design garage was in cool machinery, replicating the is complacency, which leads to mediocrity. Because exces- shop at my college—and also taking hints from the mas- sive TV kills creativity, creative excellence is vanishing. Just ter model makers I worked with on the outside, like Paul like the new material polystyrene slates (which could be eas- Hildinger of the former HfG Ulm. It may sound nostalgic to ily glued with vinegar acid but made shaping radii really hard go back to Apple’s Snow White project with its hundreds work) were the real cause for HfG Ulm’s boxy design lan- of models (Jonathan Ive still does it with great success and guage in the 1950s, our modern-day digital design software fun and so does Apple Software). But it may help to look is the cause for zillions of repetitive and bland products. at frog’s first breakthrough success: the WEGA SYSTEM Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times is a déjà vu. My conclusion 3000 launched at IFA Berlin in 1970. Due to a lack of time, and recommendation: The way of design is only achiev- Wega took my last design model for the advertising cam- able with creative model making and experimental paign and brochure—there were even traces of my sand- prototyping by the designer(s). Tools—both real and vir- ing still visible. This was my fifth model of this TV, made tual—connect our mind with the real world. However, tools from 20-year-old special wood (I went to a woodshop for also define shape in such ways that their physical and usage cutting, but the spherical shapes were all made by hand), limitations must enhance our deep involvement, forcing us plaster (for the buttons) and lots of Bondo to smooth the to hone our required skills into simple and true mastership. n

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